Jose Mourinho is the Bill Shankly of Chelsea, and deserves great reception on UEFA Champions League return, says Joe Cole

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Chelsea host Benfica in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night, live on TNT Sports and discovery+. In a delicious twist of fate, Jose Mourinho will return, this time to the away dugout at Stamford Bridge, a couple of weeks after his appointment at the Portuguese club. Joe Cole - who enjoyed so much success at Chelsea under Mourinho - looks ahead to the eagerly anticipated reunion.

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Jose Mourinho will return to familiar surrounds on Tuesday, as he takes his new Benfica charges to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the UEFA Champions League.

The Drake Suite nestled inside Stamford Bridge is a place where Chelsea remember their most decorated managers. Photographs adorn the walls of previous title triumphs.

At the site of the old Shed End, the wall of legends has one face conspicuous by its absence since 2015.

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Were you to venture into the Chelsea museum, one prominent exhibit - an iconic Giorgio Armani overcoat - is now tucked away in a corner.

But back in the Drake Suite - where the world's media gathered on Monday evening - the man who sported that attire and masterminded the club's first league title in 50 years surrounds you.

The face of Mourinho stared across at current Blues boss Enzo Maresca as he fulfilled his pre-match press conference duties on Monday, and as Chelsea prepare to come face-to-face with the most successful manager in their history - live on TNT Sports and discovery+ - Joe Cole is relishing the return of 'The Special One'.

"If there is one thing the opening weeks of the new Premier League season has taught me, it is that there is absolutely still a place for Jose Mourinho's style of management at the top of the game," said TNT Sports football expert Cole.

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"Football has changed, but Jose has evolved his style to adapt to it. His Real Madrid team didn't play the same way as his first Chelsea team, or his Inter Milan team.

"It was different again at Manchester United. What we've seen so far this season is the importance of being able to adapt and evolve. Style evolves, and football evolves.

"Clearly, things didn't pan out the way he would have liked in Turkey with Fenerbahce, but the job he did at Manchester United was fantastic.

"I think we're only seeing just how big a success he was there, now. When he said one of his biggest triumphs was finishing second with that squad, he was mocked in some quarters, but time has proven him to be right.

"He won two trophies in his first season at the club, and when you look at that across the entire landscape of how Manchester United have been after Sir Alex Ferguson, he's been their most successful manager.

"At Tottenham, he was sacked days before a League Cup final, which was extraordinary. I still think he is a top manager, and I look at his move back to Benfica as being a really smart choice.

"He's gone back to his roots, where he's gone back to his country, and he's going to instantly be comfortable in his surroundings. I just get the feeling he's going to do something special there - but I just hope it's not on Tuesday night."

Mourinho first arrived at Stamford Bridge in 2004 with a self-proclaimed reputation, when he declared himself as 'The Special One,' having just guided Porto to Champions League success.

He would build a dynasty at Chelsea that Cole compared to a legendary Liverpool manager from bygone years.

"From my perspective, he is like a [Bill] Shankly of Chelsea in the sense that money came in, and he steered the ship," he said.

"It's a much harder thing to do to take Chelsea from where they were underneath the top table to winning everything.

"It was Jose who started that process, and a lot of what we see at the club now he's imprinted and instilled into the culture.

Jose Mourinho after guiding Chelsea to 2015 Premier League title.

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"I think he's one of the most significant figures in the club's history. He's gone and managed Tottenham and Manchester United, but I think the Chelsea fans know in their heart what job he did there.

"He had remarkable success at the club, so overall, I'd like to think now he will get a good reception, as enough time has now passed.

"If I had my time again as an 18-year-old starting out my professional career, Jose would be the manager above all the others I'd love to play for again.

"Absolutely - and that's not to say it was always a walk in the park. But I loved the passion, the fighting spirit. Everything about that team, and playing for his team, felt great. I loved it."

And what of the current Chelsea?

Maresca's side opened their Premier League campaign still basking in the afterglow of winning the Club World Cup in the United States over the summer. Two wins and a draw from London derbies against West Ham United, Fulham and Crystal Palace suggested there had been no hangover.

But the recent setbacks against Manchester United and Brighton & Hove Albion have been deemed a result of costly individual mistakes as opposed to any long-lasting impact from an extended 2024/25 campaign.

"I'm not too worried about the last couple of results," Cole reflected. "I think Chelsea need to be patient as they've got a lot of young players.

"The team did fantastically well to win the Conference League and then the Club World Cup during the summer, but what we're seeing is a lesson in expectations at a club.

"Beating Paris Saint-Germain, and the manner in which they did it, has raised expectations. Enzo has been at big clubs before, so he understands how the expectations will always be there.

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"Sometimes when they're as high as they are now at Chelsea and you go through a two or three-game spell where things haven't quite gone your way, it can be painful."

Those blips along the way naturally come with a squad containing many young players, not yet deemed to be operating at the full extent of their potential.

Cole said Chelsea are "adapting to a new way of life" under the restrictions of the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), and feels Maresca is the right coach to be leading the young crop.

"Patience is going to be needed as the club are now operating in very different times to when, for example, Jose Mourinho was here," said Cole.

"It's a squad full of young players who are still making some mistakes, but I can see that they're improving all the time, so I still feel Enzo is the right man.

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"Teams have had to change their strategy in terms of how they get to the top, and that's something the new owners have certainly accepted and expressed in how they have gone about buying and selling players in the transfer market.

"It's a new game. They are having to juggle with PSR constraints like the rest of the Premier League. Chelsea are having to balance the books in the same way Manchester City are.

"Other clubs with perhaps a greater global income - Manchester United and Liverpool - can be a bit more prudent with how they spend their money, whereas Chelsea are currently adapting to a new way of life.

"There's no doubt the desire is to get Chelsea back to the top, but I see them currently as being three years into a five-year project."

Laying bare his expectations for Chelsea, Cole added: "This season, I believe there needs to be a title challenge, and then next season they need to be picking up the big honours.

"The plan is moving slowly but surely towards that target. The current squad, I feel, just needs more time to develop."

Chelsea will be favourites to record their first win of this season's Champions League, following the defeat at Bayern Munich earlier this month - but Cole does not expect Mourinho to come with an expansive strategy in mind.

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"I am sure Jose would love nothing more than to produce another masterclass," he said. "I'm certain he will be coming with a game plan to frustrate Chelsea, and I am expecting a cagey game.

"Chelsea will have plenty of possession, but Benfica will be dangerous on the counter-attack and have a real threat in Vangelis Pavlidis up front.

"There are concerns over the number of players out for Chelsea defensively, especially in central defence, so Benfica will be targeting that area.

"I'm sure Enzo would've liked that to have been more settled by now, but he's constantly had to make changes. He's not been able to field a consistent back four, so Benfica will look to test them early on in the game after a couple of defeats.

"What I know for sure is that the atmosphere is going to be white-hot."

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